Today’s passage of scripture covers a great deal of events. We join the Israelites on their journey through the desert and things aren’t going well – at least in their minds. Many of them begin to question why in the world they ever left Egypt. In fact, Moses’ brother, Aaron and his sister, Miriam want to know why they’re not in charge too. In spite of the lack of faith of many in the community the Lord still provides. On separate occasions he provided quail to eat and water from a rock to drink. Though the people disobeyed and questioned what God was up to, I love the Lord’s response. Numbers 14:18 says, “the Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion.” This doesn’t mean that no one was punished for their sin – in fact, many lost their lives in these passages. Today’s reading ends with the death of two of the key people in the community – Miriam and Aaron. In spite of many people’s disobedience, we learn in these passages that Caleb, “has a different spirit and follows [God] wholeheartedly.” (Num 14:24).  At the end of the day I certainly hope that it won’t be said of me that I was a grumbler or lacked in faith – but that I had the Spirit of the Lord in me and followed God wholeheartedly.